Another cold and manky road ride

Last road ride before the weekend on the winter Litespeed road hack machine. Again it was freezing cold, damp and overcast but with very little wind today. When I set off it was 2.2degress but by the time I reached Tow Law it was down to freeze point. There was no winter sun and a fine drizzle in the air which made it a rather damp ride. Todays route was the same as Tuesdays but in the opposite direction and a small additional loop with a hill right at the end just for fun! Roads are still very wet/damp and salty with more and more potholes forming making it interesting to say the least. Again I just stopped a couple of times for a few quick pics as it was just too cold to be hanging about. Hoping to get a ride in on Saturday & Sunday this weekend so will update the blog with the going no's.

Sorting out my Salsa/Surly fat 26" spare wheels & my other fat & semi fat wheels

Lets start from the start - I bought a standard Salsa XX1 Carbon Beargrease bike which came with green Salsa bolt through hubs and Surly Rolling Darryl rims. The rear hub had the Sram XD drive freehub for the 11 speed cassette. I used them for a few months before ordering a custom wheel build from Westbrook Cycles. Mark built me up a new pair of Surly 26+" Rabbit Hole rims with Hope Fatsno hubs & XD drive freehub. I currently have fitted Surly 4" Nate's on the front and rear.
Then I purchased a second Salsa Carbon Beargrease but as a frameset this time which came with a pair of black hubs. Again I got Mark from Westbrook Cycles to build these hubs up with Surly 29+" Rabbit hole rims. The rear hub came with a standard Shimano freehub body so had to remove the XD one from my original Beargrease rear wheel to run both Beargrease's at once- one 26" and the other 29". I have a choice of Surly 3" Knards & Maxxis 3" Chronicle tyres for the 29" wheelset.
The original Beargrease front wheel now has a Surly 5" Bud fitted but that has left me with the rear wheel and a spare standard freehub body that I cannot use.
So, I ordered up a Salsa / Sram XD freehub body, check out the rrp it is just a joke but Mark sorted me the some discount but it is still a hefty price to pay. I didn't want to cough up mega bucks for a XX1 cassette so sourced a second hand Sram X1 XG1180 (rrp £240) cassette from Ebay for way less than half price. I also required a 140mm rotor so bought another KCNC Razor that I have fitted to the other wheels, £17.99 from XC Racer shop.
30mins in the garage and I now have -
2no 26" front wheels - 5" Bud & 4" Nate fitted
2no 26" rear wheels -4" Nate & 4" Dillinger fitted
(I also have spare pairs of  26" - 4"Husker Du's, 4" Floater's & 3"Dirt Wizards tyres)
1no 29" front wheel -3" Chronicle fitted
1no 29" rear wheel - 3" Chronicle fitted
(and I also have the pair of 3" Knard tyres)
This means we can run both Beargrease's with Full Fat 26" wheels or one as Fat & the other as the Krampgrease, tyre choices for every possible type of condition.

three parcels and three items, I am ready now

Sram X1 10-42t 11 speed cassette, with 30 miles use! not so sure on that tbh

Popped it on the scales as a matter of interest

Salsa sram XD drive freehub body

KCNC Razor 140mm rotor inc bolts



freehub body only

freehub body, bolt through end cap & spacer

All cleaned up and ready for fitting

spacer on first, bevel edge towards cassette

Slide freehub boby on and engage the three prawls



Screw end cap on with 17mm cone spanner & a 13mm hex on opposite end of the axle

that's one side complete

clean up the none drive side and apply fresh grease

Push on the bolt through end cap

Grease applied and cassette fitted



Exact manufacturers weight

with t25 bolts

and that's the other side complete



tyre pumped up

and its ready for action

whilst I had my tools and grease out

I stripped down the other Salsa XD hub

Cleaned, re greased and refitted

when I took my XX1 cassette off I popped it on the scales, heavier than the X1 model !!!!!



all done and serviced



Spare wheels now ready for action when required

More soon, all the best

Cold, windy, icy local road ride on the Litespeed

The wintery sun was out so i decided to hit the roads instead of trying to tackle the sheet polished ice off road. There was a fair old breeze blowing and by the time I reached Tow Law the sun had gone and it was baltic. The temperature dropped well below zero degrees and that was without the wind chill factor. The roads going up were ok as they were salted but when I turned to take the country back lane down to Cornsay village it was un slated and sheet polished ice the full width of the road, time for a u turn. I headed back into Tow Law then turned left and come down the wind turbine road as that is gritted to Cornsay Colliery. I was going to turn right down to East Hedleyhope but kept going straight on, then I turned right along to Esh Winning and the valley road down to the Stonebridge. By the time I got to Esh the sun was back out and was +2 degrees again! Below are a few photos, it was too cold and windy to stop for many more. Still plenty of snow on the tops and more forecasted for tomorrow was well. Time for the Beargrease again!

Quiet climb up out of Willington

Still a fair amount of snow at higher ground

It was too cold to take a photo of the one at Tow Law

so here is the DCC Live weather station at Ushaw Moor

Most of the snow has gone at low level now

Roads were dry and salty where the sun has hit them

Fresh Goods Sunday - Garmin Edge 200

I have been using Garmin Edge for many years and the technology has moved on leaps and bounds since my old 305. I have upgraded to a 800, Angus has the 510 and now Arran has the 200. The Edge 200 is light, small, easy to use/navigate and ideal for recording all your ride stats etc. It is basically a posh bike computer with loads of different functions. To be honest if you are not using the mapping side of the Edge this is good enough. It comes with the twist & turn mount, charger cable and usb cable. We have loads of spare mounts so he can fit it to any of his bikes when he goes out. When he gets home he uploads it onto his Connect account and looks at his data. The rrp is £100 but shop around, we paid £57.14 from Halfords of all places. Here the Garmin spec -

This GPS-enabled cycling computer tracks time, distance, speed, location and calories burned. The Edge 200 is ideal for training, everyday and touring rides or any adventure you want to relive later at Garmin Connect™.

Top Features of the Garmin Edge 200 GPS Cycle Computer
•Unit dimensions: 4.8 x 6.9 x 2.1cm
•Display size: 3.0 x 3.7cm
•Display resolution: 128 x 160 pixels
•Touchscreen: no
•Weight: 58.5g
•Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion
•Battery life: up to 14 hours
•Water resistant: yes (IPX7)
•GPS-enabled: yes
•High-sensitivity receiver: yes
•Lap history: 1,000 laps (dependent on memory usage)
•Garmin Training Center® software compatible: yes
•Virtual Partner® (train against a digital person): yes (within a course)
•Auto Pause® (pauses and resumes timer based on speed): yes
•Auto Lap® (automatically starts a new lap): yes
•Auto Scroll (cycles through data pages during workout): yes
•Time/distance alert (triggers alarm when you reach goal): yes

•What's in the Box
•Bike mounts
•AC Adapter for the UK & Europe
•USB cable
•ManualsProduct Data
MTB: Yes
Road: Yes
Power Plug Type: USB
Multi-sport: No
Bluetooth Enabled: No
GPS: Yes
Vibration Alert: No
Heart Rate Monitor Compatible: No
Barometric Altimeter: No
Time/Distance alert: Yes
Auto Start/Stop: Yes
Waterproof: Yes
Touchscreen: No
Ant+ Compatible: No
Colour Display: No
Backlight: Yes
Cadence Compatible: No
EU Plug Supplied: No
US Plug Supplied: No
Aus/Nz Plug Supplied: No

Edge 200 features a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix® satellite prediction to calculate your position faster. That means when you turn it on outdoors, it finds satellites quickly so you can get on with your ride. It also alerts you if you’re moving but the timer is not running.
Edge 200 has an Auto Pause feature so it will stop the timer when you’re not moving, then restart automatically when you’re rolling again. You also can set alerts for distance, time or calories to make it easier and more fun to achieve your goals.
Whether you ride for fun, fitness or to feed your competitive edge, you’ll love seeing how far and how fast you rode. Having this data at your fingertips provides motivation and inspiration to keep you going. Edge 200 stores up to 130 hours of ride data and sorts your activities so you can quickly look up the fastest, longest or last ride.
Edge 200 helps you bring new life to old rides with Courses, a feature that lets you challenge your times on previous rides. A digital cyclist shows your speed relative to your past performance, along with an indication of how far ahead or behind you are. You also can download rides from other Garmin Connect users for a virtual competition.